Conventional motor vehicle bodies are comprised of a plurality of stamped metal panels which are welded, bolted, or otherwise suitably attached together. Such vehicle body construction typically includes body outer panels which define the decorative outer appearance surface of the vehicle and various body inner structural panels and reinforcements which define the underlying body structure and cooperate with the outer panels to carry the loads to which the vehicle is subjected during use. Outer panels, such as the fenders, are conventionally bolted onto the body structure and have slotted holes by which the mounted location of the outer panels may be adjusted to properly space the outer panels from one another. Shims are conventionally placed between the fenders and the body structure to align the appearance surfaces of the adjacent panels irrespective of dimensional variation in the body structure.
It is also known in modern vehicle construction to employ body outer panels of molded plastic in order to obtain vehicle design goals such as weight reduction and corrosion resistance. Furthermore, relatively soft and flexible plastic body outer panels lessen the vehicle's susceptibility to damage from minor impact.
A shortcoming of the use of plastic body outer panels to define the outer appearance surface of a motor vehicle body is that the plastic panel cannot be welded to the adjacent panels or to the underlying self-supporting body structure. Furthermore, the attachment of the plastic panel to the body structure can result in highly visible surface distortion of the plastic panel unless the body outer panel is mounted on the body structure in a precise manner in which the relatively flexible plastic panel is not twisted or bent.
It would be desirable to provide an attachment of the plastic outer body panel upon the body structure by a device and in a manner which assures distortion free mounting of the plastic body outer panel on the underlying body structure and also assures the precise alignment and spacing of each such plastic body outer panel with the adjacent plastic panels irrespective of manufacturing tolerance and dimensional variations in the underlying body structure.